Opening Reception: Contemporary Ex-votos: Devotion Beyond Medium

Contemporary Ex-votos: Devotion Beyond Medium
opening reception: Friday, April 19, 5-8 pm
on view: April 19–November 23, 2024

The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art is proud to present Contemporary Ex-votos: Devotion Beyond Medium. Shedding fresh light on the understudied iconographic and ideological aspects of traditional Mexican ex-votos—votive retablo paintings—this exhibition features art by contemporary Latinx artists from the United States and Mexico in conversation with selections from the largest collection of retablos in the U.S.. Fifteen of the artists have responded directly to the collection by creating new artworks in consultation with curator Dr. Emmanuel Ortega (Marilynn Thoma Scholar and Assistant Professor in Art of the Spanish Americas at the University of Illinois at Chicago) and the New Mexico State University Art Museum, custodians of the retablo collection.

Together, all of the artists consider ex-votos in their holistic complexity—the way they look, the religious and cultural contexts they carry, and the deeply personal stories they insist upon—using them as a lens to magnify contemporary perceptions of history, labor, gender, class, race, colonization, immigration, families, and more.

The artists who have responded to NMSU’s retablo collection are Justin Favela, Eric J. García, Francisco Guevara, Dan45 Hernandez, Juan Molina Hernández, John Jota Leaños, Guadalupe Maravilla, Yvette Mayorga, Krystal Ramirez, Sandy Rodriguez, Xochi Solis, Daisy Quezada Ureña, Alfredo Vilchis, Daniel Vilchis, and José Villalobos. The exhibition also includes work by Elena Brokaw, Ariella Granados, Zully Mejía, and Daisy Sanchez.